


Butterfly Delusions

by WindMeister8



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Crimes & Criminals, Delusions, Detectives, Evidence, F/M, Ghosts, Hallucinations, Horror, Interrogation, Investigations, Jail, Murder, Murder Mystery, Police, Rape, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-10-01 08:25:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10185053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WindMeister8/pseuds/WindMeister8
Summary: A murder with clear evidence pointing to an unstable woman should be an easy case for Detective Eren Yaeger. But when eerie incidences start to point towards a six year old cold case, he suspects that things are not as it seems.Only one thing is clear....The butterflies are key.





	

The specific apartment complex was nothing out of the ordinary. Its walls were a dull fading grey, its roof crumbling, its windows small and in some places, broken. It fitted right in with the scenery of downtown London. What was unusual about it on this particular day was the presence of a company of people rarely seen roaming around those parts.

On the sixth floor, a group of smart-looking men with clean uniforms and shiny badges stood in the glumly lit corridor. Under the flickering light, they held their office-issued revolvers, waiting for their leader – a green-eyed man – to give them the signal.

He stood in front of an apartment, its door plate hanging crooked, the number #606 barely visible. Pounding his fist repeatedly on the wooden door, he received no answer.

“Police! Open up!” he called out.

Still nothing.

Lifting two fingers and pointing towards the door, he stepped aside, firearm at the ready. His burly subordinate moved forward and using his strength, rammed into the wooden structure, its fragile hinges immediately giving way.

The group of men swarmed in, its leader moving in last. Unperturbed by the darkness and the rancid smell, the men methodically canvassed the apartment. Its small size meant the search would be quick and indeed, a couple of seconds later, a barked order rang through the closed walls.

The leader edged past his men, making his way towards the source of the sound. Rounding the corner, he noted his subordinate pointing his revolver at a disheveled woman standing at the kitchen counter, a bloodstained knife in her hands.

“Drop your weapon!” the man repeated his order.

Seeing that the woman matched the description he had imprinted in his mind, the teal-eyed leader reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out his police ID card.

“I’m Detective Eren Yaeger. Miss Elvina Wolfe, you’re hereby under arrest for the suspected murder of Krista Reiss. You have the right to remain silent, however anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”

The brunette woman placed her knife on the counter with a loud clang. Her blue eyes flashed with amusement under her long hair that covered most of her face. As Eren watched her closely, the lady’s thin lips curved upwards in a manic smile.

“Finally.”

 

Three long days of searching in what could possibly be London’s wettest weather, and he had finally tracked her down. After leaving her in the care of his subordinate, he had hurriedly wiped himself clean of the dirty rainwater before trudging back to the interrogation room. Yet the effect of the damp weather had its reaches even in the small, aging building. As he entered the room, the white light dimmed due to power surges and he had to flick the lightbulb lightly a few times before it steadied. Muttering to himself about calling the maintenance staff once again, he drew his overcoat closer around him. The cold draft from outside must have permeated the thin walls of the old police station. Yet another reason for them to move to the newly constructed one.

But now was not the time for such frustrating issues. He dropped into the only available seat in the room, placing the file and recorder he carried on top of the stainless steel table. Sitting across from him was the suspect, her head held level. He scrunched his nose at the smell of sweat and dirt emanating from her body. His gut instinct told him that this would be a simple open and shut case. One look at her and you could tell she was off the rocker. Add that to the pile of evidence they already had and there you had it. All he needed was a confession – plain and simple, and he could go back home. Get a good night’s rest.

His practiced cold gaze and airy confidence showcased his upper hand, unnerving the suspect as to what he already knew. Extracting a confession should be easy. But observing the woman across from him, she didn’t exhibit any nervous ticks. No biting of her lips, wringing of her hands, or bouncing of her knee. She was still. Her eyes simply stared back at him, emotionless.

As if his patience wasn’t thin enough, this attitude of hers annoyed the heck out of him. Wanting this whole case to be over and done with, he opened up a maroon file and slid it over. He jabbed his thumb at the set of pictures. “Do you recognize this woman?”

She lowered her gaze. A thin smile broke across her lips as her long fingernails trailed over the picture of a blonde woman with multiple lacerations on her torso.

“Krriisssta.” Her voice came out in a low hiss. “Doesn’t she look great?”

Eren frowned. “What looks great?”

“Her big scared eyes.” She abruptly jerked forward, bringing her face inches away from Eren’s. “Don’t you like it?”

Taken aback by her sudden movement, his right hand immediately flew to the gun he carried on his waistband. Holding one hand in front of him, he gestured to her. “Miss Wolfe, please calm down and have a seat.”

She stared right back at him, unmoving. Repeating his order again, he placed his hand on her shoulder in an effort to coax her. Only then did she slowly drop back into her seat.

“You do like it.”

He lifted his eyebrows, perplexed by her statement. “No, I don’t. Why would anyone like such a thing?”

“You do,” she repeated, breaking out into a giggle. Lifting her palm up high, she did an imaginary high five. Watching her mad antics as she gestured to the air, Eren shook his head in frustration. She was a total nut job. 

“Miss Wolfe.”

Rapping his fist on the table, he spoke louder. “Miss Wolfe, please.”

Her gaze snapped back to him and her smile dropped. “Who are you?”

“Detective Eren Yaeger. Now, you know this woman. Can you tell me when and where did you last see her?”

“When….” She held up her fingers and counted. “Four days ago. In the parking lot behind the mall.”

“Was there anyone else with her?”

“The parking lot was deserted. We saw to that.”

Eren’s eyes flashed at her words. “Wait. We? You and who?”

“My secret accomplice.”

“Who’s that?”

She smirked, her eyes twinkling in mischief. “Does it matter? You can’t see her anyway.”

“Why? Is she dead? Did you kill her?” he pressed.

“She’s in here,” she whispered, pointing to her head.

An imaginary companion. Eren resisted the urge to slap his forehead. “Alright, fine. What happened after that?”

She leant back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other. “I used a cloth. With chloroform. Stuck it to her mouth and… wham! She’s down.”

He could almost snap his fingers in excitement. She was confessing so easily. This interrogation would be over in minutes. Trying to contain his growing anticipation, he gave a curt nod. “Then?”

“I dumped her in my truck and drove her to her house. Bound her so she couldn’t move and once she woke up, I cut her with a kitchen knife to get answers.”

Eren frowned. “Answers to what?”

Her eyes glazed over and she muttered to herself. “Stubborn bitch.”

“Miss Wolfe, answers to what?”

She leapt up from her chair, slamming her palms down on the table with a loud bang. “She didn’t tell! There were two of them but she didn’t tell… oh the bitch didn’t tell. She said she didn’t know where he was…”

“W-where who was?” Eren grasped at straws, her words making no sense to him whatsoever. Just when he was about to extract her confession, she completely threw him off. Even now, she was pacing up and down, completely ignoring him while he watched in stunned silence.

“Three days…. I lost three days because I couldn’t find it…” she muttered.

“Find what?” Eren snapped, his patience running dry.

Stopping, she turned towards him, her mouth forming a large ‘o’. “It was underneath my bed, below the plank.”

“You mean the murder weapon?”

“No. Lulu’s butterfly bracelet.”

He blinked, unable to process what this raging lunatic was going on about. As she resumed pacing, he ran both his hands through his brown hair, his head bowed down. Closing his eyes, he willed himself not to strangle her right here, right now.

“Miss Wolfe,” He spoke through gritted teeth. “Could you please concentrate and listen to what I’m aski-“

Looking up, he realized she was talking to thin air again, gesturing wildly like she was frustrated with the conversation she was having. His temper finally broke through and he stood up, slamming a fist into the table.

“I’m telling you to quit whatever you’re doing and focus your fucking attention on me!” His voice boomed in the small room, sharpened by the poor acoustics in the room. Outside, a clap of thunder sounded in almost perfect synchrony, accompanied by a lightning flash that filtered through the small window etched into the opposite wall.

That got her attention as she turned slowly to look at him, her face expressionless and her lips sealed together in a tight line. Getting straight to the point, he laid out the facts.

“We matched your fingerprints to the victim’s wounds and a few witnesses can testify that they saw you leaving Krista’s apartment. The evidence is clear as day. So I ask you, Miss Wolfe, did you kill Krista Reiss?”

She stared back at him, her voice coming out soft yet firm. “She had to pay for what she did.”

A roar from the skies above punctuated her words, as did the increasingly torrential flow of rain. Eren’s patience neared its limit as the exhaustion and frustration of the days’ events took its toll on him. Rubbing his forehead, he stated wearily, “So you killed her.”

A brief silence ensued, followed by a quiet “No.”

“But you admit to cutting her.”

“Yes. She had to pay for Lulu.”

His hand clenched into a fist. He enunciated each word sharply. “So you killed her?”

Another flash of white light tore through the room.

“No.”

He threw his hands in the air. “Just admit it for Christ’s sake!”

Her cold blue eyes suddenly ablaze with barely concealed fury, she snarled, “You didn’t help her!”

“What are you talking about?”

A rumble shook the room, followed immediately by a lightning bolt. 

“Lulu’s mad because of you!”

The rage boiling just below his skin, Eren bellowed, “Who’s this Lulu??”

He was greeted with a brief silence as another forked tongue of lightning lit up the room in sharp jagged lines.

“See for yourself.”

The bulb hanging above the table went out just as nature’s own weapon struck the ground, illuminating the room only briefly enough for Eren to see a white figure standing in the corner of the room.

 

As if his face was not ashen enough, the next few words Eren heard was enough to turn his complexion paler than the ghost he thought he had just seen. 

“Are you kidding me, Armin? Why aren’t we charging her with murder?”

The blonde man leveled his gaze on Eren. “The truth of the matter is there are too many things that she said that don’t match up with the evidence we have. Take for example the murder weapon and cause of death. The autopsy results clearly show a single accurate stab that penetrated the victim’s heart, caused by a thin, small object-“

“I know what the autopsy said.” Eren lifted his hand up, interrupting his fellow colleague. “But this mad lady is lying to us. She knows she will get a lighter sentence that way.”

Armin tented his fingers together and shook his head. “No, she could just as easily plead mental instability. The facts don’t match and besides, what she mentioned suggests this case has more to it than it seems.”

Sighing in frustration, Eren ran his fingers through his hair, drained by everything that had happened. He had no idea why Armin was so fixated on what that woman said but he also knew that his blue-eyed friend was more level-headed than him and able to see the facts for what it was.

“I understand if you don’t want to continue on this case, Eren.” Armin paused. “But I think you should decide after reading through the material that Annie found just now.”

Eren closed his eyes in thought for a second before opening them once again. “Okay, I’ll have a look at it.”

 

The material was several pages long, presented in a file whose color was the same as the dust that buried it under the stacks of cold case files in the archive room. Cracking his knuckles, Eren made sure that the lighting in the room was set to the highest intensity before he sat down and got to work. Despite being a man of science, the day’s happenings had clearly gotten to him and he did not want any repeats of… that incident.

Taking in a sharp breath, he opened the file to its first page…

 

September 13th. 6 years ago. 

The case involved the sexual assault of a 19-year old college girl in an isolated warehouse proximately at midnight. Witnesses placed her at a bar located half a mile away from the crime scene at 10.30pm with a female friend. The victim left together with her friend at approximately 11.30pm and according to her testimony, was approached by two men whom they met at the bar. 

The two women initially agreed to be accompanied to the nearest bus stop but due to their level of intoxication, they were misled away from their destination. Based on the given testimony, the victim had attempted to fend off the two men by herself, allowing time for her friend to escape unharmed. Her friend blacked out soon after and when she came to, she alerted the neighborhood police who later found the victim after a thorough search of the vicinity. The victim’s testimony is corroborated by her friend’s although no other witnesses could be found.

The description of the two men they met was vague, possibly due to their state of mind at the time of the incident. Police rounded up several suspects, however the victim could not identify anyone as the offender. The case was subsequently closed due to lack of any new evidence or witness. 

A small note was attached to the end of the file. “A month before the closing of the case, the victim Lulu Ashton committed suicide by slashing her wrists. Her friend Elvina Wolfe was later admitted to a private mental hospital due to schizophrenia.”

The blood in his veins turned ice cold as he studied the single picture of the victim Lulu. Though the flash of lightning happened in an instant, the image imprinted in his mind was still as clear as day. The resemblance of the white apparition to the picture in front of him was too similar to be a coincidence. 

As quickly as the thought of supernatural forces at play entered his mind, he hurriedly dismissed it. There was a more logical explanation to all this. His mental and emotional fatigue was certainly to blame for the ephemeral hallucination. And the uncanny similarity to the woman who now lay dead in the morgue…

Maybe his subconscious was telling him something. After all, this case was not just any small case. It was the case he had been attached to when he was merely a rookie in training. He remembered clearly the hours he had put in, the tension in the police force when each lead turned into a dead end, the frustration when the case had to be closed, and of course the guilt when the victim had taken her own life. Thinking back to his interview with Elvina, maybe that’s what she meant when she accused him of not helping. 

He had always been one to believe in his gut instinct and it seldom led him astray. So call it what you will – nostalgia, stubbornness – but he was now absolutely adamant on solving both the 6-year-old case and the current one to put the ghosts of his past to rest.

With his decision resolute, he set the gears in motion by conducting another interview with Elvina. She was less forthcoming, however, and remained calm, showcasing none of her previous antics. Despite the disappointing lack of information, he wasn’t one to give up. 

He visited her every day in the temporary cell she occupied, probing her whenever he could. Almost all the time, he did it alone without an accompanying officer. Not a single soul in the police station wanted anything to do with her, furtively looking away when he asked for their physical presence. The whispered rumors were that a woman in a white dress would sometimes appear in Elvina’s cell, mysteriously floating above ground, her face white as a sheet. Some even said they could almost hear her whisper “Help.” 

Recently, the latest casualty of the female ghost - a young policewoman - was in hysterics when she felt a cold touch on her palm tracing out a butterfly. Recalling the butterfly bracelet Elvina had mentioned, Eren had immediately ordered a search of Elvina’s house, recovering the item as well as several other dusty jewelry pieces under the bed.

Showing the bracelet to Elvina had an immediate effect as she smiled and lunged for it like a child with a toy. He kept it easily out of her grasp though, promising to give it to her if she cooperated with him. Initially reluctant, she pursed her lips but slowly began to talk. On occasion, she would be distracted by another presence in the cell that Eren felt as well, the raised goosebumps on his arms a good indicator of that.  

But then barely fifteen minutes in, she would just as suddenly drift off and getting any response from her proved impossible. The progress was unbearably slow but one interview after another, he was beginning to understand her. In a way, she resembled him during his childhood years. Full of rage and focused solely on revenge. He was lucky to have overcome his own hatred slowly through the help of his friends but unlike him, she had no one. Sent instead to a mental hospital, her negative emotions festered inside her untamed. He could see how torn and ravaged her soul was, mirroring back his own years ago.

Maybe that was why he felt a sense of duty towards her, as if he wanted to pull her out from that dark abyss her mind had slipped into. There was still hope for her, he could see it when her real personality emerged during her interaction with the imaginary Lulu. Her dead friend was her only refuge and connection to the world. But he wanted that to change.

He tried broaching different topics with her to get her to open up more. He tried speaking of his own experience of abuse and how he escaped the hell he was born into. He tried getting her to do activities like knitting or threading bracelets. Sometimes he couldn’t elicit a response at all but he never gave up.

Slowly but surely, his efforts began to pay off. Elvina was more talkative around him, letting him interact with Lulu and occasionally, she would even smile. The sight of her lips tugging upwards always made him catch his breath, a flutter of warmth dancing in his chest. It made him feel that all his efforts were worth it.

But despite spending all that time with her and extracting all that she knew, it was difficult advancing the case. All leads had been exhausted, all evidence recovered and sifted through too many times to count. With the lengthy amount of time that had passed and the public at the heels of the police, they were already pressed to make charges or be deemed incompetent in the eyes of people.

Eren was at his wit’s end, frustrated and angered by the fact that they would have to charge Elvina with murder if nothing substantial was found. Two days were left for him to clear her of suspicion and he still had nothing concrete. Glaring at the screen in front of him, he clicked through images of the deceased Krista. She had been a model for women’s attire and accessories but despite all the juicy rumors about her, there was nothing that helped the case.

As he scrolled through another fashion magazine, something caught his eye and he hurriedly rolled the page back up. Zooming in, he observed closely.

Krista was standing in a line of other models, hands on her hips as she smiled.

And the most important detail of all… a butterfly hair stick pinned through her hair bun.

 

**6 months later.**

At the clang of the gate, Eren lifted his head. Seeing the brunette woman cross over to him, he broke into a wide smile, his arms held out to her. As she fell into his embrace, he breathed in her smell, his eyes closing in nostalgia.

She spoke into his jacket. “Thanks for picking me up.”

“You hungry?”

Laughing, she nodded. Eren broke the embrace and ruffled her short hair, grinning at her when she fixed a glare at him. Sauntering over to the driver’s side, he opened his car door. “Come on, then. Let’s get a bite to eat.”

As he drove down the winding road, he glanced at her. She was thinner, her cheeks gaunt, the orange jail inmate’s uniform hanging loosely on her body. But unlike before, her blue eyes were softer, more like a tranquil blue sky than the cold abyss of a bottomless ocean. 

“So.” He broke the silence. “How have you been?”

“Fine.”

Rolling his eyes, he reached for her hand. “No, really. How are you, Elvina?”

She sighed, intertwining her fingers with his. “Alright, I admit it. I still have a bout of negativity sometimes. But it’s getting better.”

“Really, I am,” she added when Eren raised his eyebrows in suspicion.

Elvina looked out the window, watching the rolling landscapes of greenery pass by. “I remember that moment when Lulu passed on after you found her murderer. I didn’t know what to feel. On one hand, I was so happy to have avenged her and made up for my cowardice. But then… I was losing my only friend.”

He tightened his grip on her hand, afraid of what she would say next. But when his eyes met hers, he relaxed upon seeing a tender smile upon her face.

“You were the only reason why I continued living, Eren,” she said. “So… thank you.”

A slight tint of rouge dusted his cheeks as he turned towards her, giving her hand a squeeze. “I’m glad you’re back to reality, Elvina.”

She chuckled, shaking her head. “You still don’t believe that Lulu was there, do you,” she stated rather than asked.

Eren didn’t reply, unable to give a direct answer. Instead, he released his grip and fumbled in his jeans pocket. “Well… one thing I can say for sure though. Lulu’s butterfly symbol helped a lot in solving the case. Although I’m sorry it wasn’t enough to keep you out of jail. So as a token of the end of your jail sentence…. here.”

He held out a small blue box, keeping his eyes on the road as he negotiated the turn. Elvina knotted her eyebrows questioningly but took the mystery item, staring at it for a moment before she opened it with a small click.

A gasp escaped her lips as she took in the small item shining inside its case. With teary eyes, she gently caressed the jeweled surface, all the while whispering “Thank you.”

The butterfly ring spoke for itself.

_The following record contains details of the interview of Reiner Braun, murder suspect of Krista Reiss. 3.00AM._

_How do I know Krista? I was her ex-boyfriend from a while ago. Why?_  
After we broke up, we never kept in contact. I don’t even know where she is.  
…Are you kidding me?? I want my lawyer right now!  
No… no… no… there’s NO way my blood could have been found there!  
I refuse. I’m innocent, someone planted it on the hair stick, I don’t know-  
I didn’t just admit anyt- I just guessed it was a hair stick! Wha- 

_**Murder suspect does not speak for the next five minutes as officer lays out the evidence.** _

_You’re sure I can get a reduced sentence if I come out with it? Alright, you said it, I’m holding you to your word there._  
It’s true we never kept in contact. But just a week ago, I was reading through one of the Playboy magazines and saw her picture together with a full interview. So I thought, why not hook back up? I was getting bored of the chicks in my area anyway.  
I went to her place and found her tied up, gashes all over, blood everywhere. I was scared but I hugged her tightly, telling her I would make it okay. But you know what the bitch did?  
She spat at me! She told me she didn’t need me and that she found a new partner – some lesbian bitch. I got so mad and I don’t know what I was thinking. I just wanted her to shut up. So I grabbed the nearest thing which turned out to be a hair stick and just… stabbed her.  
I swear, that’s the entire truth!  
Because she hated me, that’s why.  
Wh- why are you bringing up such an old case??  
No, oh god, I’ve admitted everything. Why are you still questioning me?? I’m innoc- 

_**Murder suspect stares at the corner of the room, his mouth gulping like a goldfish. Officer questions him about what he sees and murder suspects starts screaming incoherently.** _

_I-it can’t be h-h-her!!! G-get AWAY!!!_

_**Murder suspect cringes and puts his arms up as if to protect his face. Officer tries to calm him down but murder suspect still maintains eye contact with the room corner.** _

_Okay, okay, I’ll cooperate with the police alright?? Just leave me alone!_

_**Murder suspect shivers as he speaks, constantly looking at something. His face gets paler.** _

_W-we- I mean me and another friend used to pick up girls from the bar. Krista was my g-girlfriend at the time. She would approach the one we wanted and s-spike their drinks. After the girl left the bar, m-me and my friend would approach her and then b-bring her to one of the warehouses nearby_

_**Murder suspect starts swatting at the air.** _

_Krista liked w-watching. She was a wild girl back then. T-that’s why she went along with it._

_**Murder suspect closes his eyes and covers his face with his hands** _

_I think we did about t-ten or so girls before we got bored with the routine. Are we good now?? Please don’t let the butterflies hurt me!!  
I don’t want anything to do with you or her or-_

_**Murder suspect shrieks for a full minute and starts clawing out his eyes. Officer tries to stop him but then suddenly faints.** _

_Their eyes!! NOT THOSE EYES!!!_  
S-ST-TOP IT!!!!! Aaargggghhhhh!!!  
Please no more butterflies!!  



End file.
